Berne man's shooting called suicide by police

State Police say 51-year-old aggressively approached them with 2 knives

Maj. William Keeler, left, and Capt. Robert Patnaude hold a news conference on Saturday, April 23, 2016, at Troop G Headquarters in Latham, N.Y. They were responding to an incident where two troopers shot and killed Carl Baranishyn, 51, of Berne. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Cindy SchultzMaj. William Keeler, left, and Capt. Robert Patnaude hold a news conference on Saturday, April 23, 2016, at Troop G Headquarters in Latham, N.Y. They were responding to an incident where two troopers shot and killed Carl Baranishyn, 51, of Berne. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Cindy SchultzMaj. William Keeler, left, and Capt. Robert Patnaude hold a news conference on Saturday, April 23, 2016, at Troop G Headquarters in Latham, N.Y. They were responding to an incident where two troopers shot and killed Carl Baranishyn, 51, of Berne. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

State Police officials provide details Saturday afternoon about the death of a knife-wielding Berne man by two troopers late Friday night April 22, 2016. (Lindsay Ellis / Times Union)

Berne

Two State Police troopers shot and killed a Berne man who they say held two knives and charged troopers late Friday night, State Police said.

State Police officials said the Albany County coroner ruled the death suicide by police.

Police said Carl Baranishyn, 51, called the police, saying he was feeling suicidal and homicidal. Two troopers found Baranishyn on High Point Road outside his house holding two 3- to 4-inch folding knives, Maj. William Keeler said at a news conference Saturday.

Baranishyn did not respond to several commands to drop his knives and then "aggressively approached" the troopers, who both shot at him, Keeler said.

Troopers shot him three times at a distance of about 10 to 15 feet from the troopers, Keeler said, declining to specify where on the body Baranishyn was shot.

The shooting took place on a road about 50 yards from the house in heavy darkness, Keeler said. Parts of High Point Road, which connects Route 10 and Route 13 in Berne, are wood-lined and gravel.

Police said that troopers and the Helderberg Rescue squad used an AED (automated external defibrillator) to treat Baranishyn, who Keeler said appeared to live alone, after the shooting. No other weapons were found on him.

Keeler said the two troopers, who he did not name, were "justified to shoot."

"These situations are so fluid," Keeler said. "If it was a bright, sunny day and the subject had nothing more than a bathing suit on with his skin, his flesh, exposed, then ... most of the time a Taser works under those circumstances. But that's not what was the case. It was pitch black."

The troopers were uninjured. The Albany County District Attorney's Office is investigating the incident along with State Police internally.

Multiple phone calls placed to neighbors, politicians and other Berne residents did not yield anyone who was familiar enough with Baranishyn to comment on his life or the circumstances of his death.

Kevin G. Crosier, Berne town supervisor, said he "didn't really know" Baranishyn but understood that he periodically oversaw the house at 12 High Point Road.

According to several real estate websites, the home and 42.25 acres were sold for $185,000 last June.

Carl Baranishyn Sr. ran for a town office in 2009. He died in February after moving to Florida with his wife in 2011.

On a post from Friday, a Facebook friend of Baranishyn referred to him as "Cee" and wrote: "What a sad, sad, day."

It's the third use of deadly force by police in the Capital Region this month.

On April 10, a Rotterdam police officer shot and killed William Clark III inside a Roberta Road home after he attacked officers with a knife and after a failed attempt to use a Taser, according to State Police and town police.

Clark stabbed one officer with a knife in the chest and shoulder while a protective vest absorbed the blows. Clark slashed a second officer in the back of the head, a wound requiring stitches.

State Police, in their review, said police procedures were followed in the incident.

In Troy last Sunday, Edson Thevenin, 38, of Watervliet was killed by city police after he allegedly fled a traffic stop and used his car to pin an officer against a patrol car.

The officer shot and killed Thevenin through Thevenin's car windshield. The officer will not face criminal charges, according to Rensselaer County prosecutors, following a grand jury investigation.